The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Justice Jordan?

When we first started the blog, we argued that the upcoming High Court vacancies should be filled by a Floridian. And during that Supreme Court mania, some of our own judges, like Cecilia Altonaga and Federico Moreno (and 11th Cir. Judge Marcus and Fla. Sup. Ct. Justice Cantero) were mentioned. But instead we got Roberts and Alito...

Now Tom Goldstein, of SCOTUSBlog, theorizes who will be on the shortlist should a Democrat take the White House in 2008. Here is his original post and his follow-up post.

On the list -- Judge Adalberto Jordan! Goldstein says that Jordan makes the shortlist assuming that he quickly ascends to the Eleventh Circuit. Very exciting...

Our old poll on the subject is still up. The current results for the top three:

Judge Jordan could go directly from SD Fla to the Supremes. He sits by designation several times a year on the 11th and has the pedigree (O'Connor clerkship, US Attys Office) to make a short list coming from the district court.

Not sure of the last district court judge elevated, but plenty of SCOTUS justices were never judges at all prior to being nominated. Earl Warren had no prior judicial experience. Nor did William Rehnquist, Felix Frankfurter, and Louis Brandeis. Justice O'Connor was a state court judge for six years prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court. Hugo L. Black was a judge on the police court of Birmingham, Alabama

Justice Jordan? Never. He is more than qualified and a very decent human beiing. The problem? He is not predictably liberal. Liberals would reach back forty years for precedent and cite to Byron White, a JFK appointee who became somewhat of a conservative.

The Southern District of Florida blog is authored by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.